Overview
- Alpine secured FIA approval to conduct a private filming day at Barcelona on January 11, making it one of the first teams, alongside Audi, to run a 2026 car before official testing.
- The session will be closed to external media with only internal staff authorized, reflecting teams’ caution over early power‑unit integration and reliability checks.
- From 2026 Alpine becomes a Mercedes power‑unit customer, including transmission and suspension supply, a move widely reported in the paddock as advantageous under the new regulations.
- Having pivoted early in 2024 to prioritize its 2026 design and finishing 2025 last, Alpine gained extra wind‑tunnel and CFD allocation to accelerate A526 development.
- The FIA also approved a Sprint‑weekend adjustment allowing FP1 extensions to recover red‑flag time if stoppages occur before minute 45, as teams prepare for Alpine’s January 23 launch, Barcelona tests on January 26–30, Bahrain running in February, and the March 6–8 season opener in Melbourne.